Alex Pheby

Photo of Sirius the dog communing mystically with his friend Anaximander the dog.

always in the weft

I'm taking credit for this book because he's one of my ex students (joking, obviously, but...)

We pay speaker fees at Newcastle. We paid speaker fees at Greenwich. And Sunderland. And UEA (those are the ones I've worked at). It's both gatekeeping and untrue. We pay people to come and speak because people should be paid for their work. Anything else is exploitation.

Weft...

YouTube video by STIM STIM - unalive (Official GMV - Dark Souls)

youtube.com/watch?v=Wud9...
Cities of the West inspired hyperpop banger from STIM. My new theme tune.

Snap! Criticism: Roberts and Pheby Dan Hartland Defining a genre is most often a fool’s errand. Take science fiction: from the almost open-ended capaciousness of Theodore Sturgeon (“a story with a human problem and a human solution”…

Core to that piece was "how literature interacted with itself"; in another of the nominated essays, I found Roberts' new history of fantasy essential in identifying the "wide range of resonances between Pheby’s work and the canonical texts of the genre."

Pheby emerged as a key to contemporary SFF.

Text reads: Juliet E McKenna Publications in 2025 The Green Man’s Holiday Novel – Wizard’s Tower Press What can Tolkien’s creative process teach a writer today? Contribution to Writing the Magic – Essays on Crafting Fantasy Fiction Dead Ink Books To the left, the cover of Writing the Magic lists the editors and contributors and has the letters for the word 'magic' in black outlined with gold, and floating on a background which shades from green to purple. The contributors are Francesco Dimitri, Hannah Kaner, RJ Barker, Kritika H. Rao, Juliet E. McKenna, Jen Williams, Jeff Noon, Alex Pheby, J.L. Worrad, Richard Strachan, Charlotte Bond Katherine Langrish and Lucy Holland. The editors are Dan Coxon and Richard V Hirst. To the right, The Green Man's Holiday cover art by Ben Baldwin shows a creature crouching in a low tunnel entrance lined with grey stones and partly hidden by green undergrowth and white flowers. The creature has pale skin covered in sparse black hair and it looks a bit like an ape, a bit like a bear, and completely unlike either of those.

I am delighted to see The Green Man's Holiday on the BSFA Awards longlist. Inclusion in this preliminary stage of the awards process is a great compliment. Writing the Magic is also listed in the Non-Fiction category, rewarding all the contributors' and editors' work.

Completely great. If I'm being picky, I would have liked the War of the Lions extras too, but they might DLC that. Otherwise a brilliant game with loads of quality of life improvements and some really nice voice acting.

Come fellow writers, come willing to write what you’d rather burn:

Prints James Nunn is a contemporary artist and printmaker, working primarily with ink, charcoal and pastel. Beautiful art for real homes.

Collector alert! Limited edition Cities of the Weft prints from the genius cover artist James Nunn. Get them before they sell out.

jamesnunnart.com/collections/...

Oh yes, we're doing this on Saturday 25th October at MCM Comic Con in London. Join me, RJ Barker, Alex Pheby and Juliet E. McKenna, as we discuss how to build fantasy worlds and our new book of essays, WRITING THE MAGIC (out September 18th).

SEPT 18 - Book Launch: WRITING THE MAGIC Date: 18 SeptemberTime: 6 PM - 8 PMDead Ink Books, 375 Smithdown Road, L15 3JJTickets from £5 WRITING THE MAGIC is the fourth in Dead Ink's award winning series of genre writing guides. Following on f...

Don't forget to grab a ticket for a night discussing Fantasy fiction with Dan Coxon, Alex Pheby and R.J. Barker at Dead Ink Bookshop! We're celebrating the launch of WRITING THE MAGIC ✨

Date: 18.09.25
Time: 6 - 8 PM
Tickets: £5 entry // £13 entry & book
deadinkbookshop.com/products/sep...

Signing with Wes at Elliott Bay bookstore in Seattle. V. cool guy.

Weird fiction panel at WorldCon

No Tropes For Me—Let’s Write Weird panel @seattlein2025.org #worldcon2025

❤️

He looks much better. Phew!

Snap! Criticism: Roberts and Pheby Dan Hartland Defining a genre is most often a fool’s errand. Take science fiction: from the almost open-ended capaciousness of Theodore Sturgeon (“a story with a human problem and a human solution”…

ancillaryreviewofbooks.org/2025/08/13/s...

Prize — Galley Beggar Press

Our short story prize is open for submissions again! Please share this widely - and please send us your stories:

www.galleybeggar.co.uk/prize

Closing date 8 November!

Alert! Alert! We're having a 35% backlist title sale.

And just look at these incredible books: www.galleybeggar.co.uk/gbp-timeline...

SEPT 18 - Book Launch: WRITING THE MAGIC Date: 18 SeptemberTime: 6 PM - 8 PMDead Ink Books, 375 Smithdown Road, L15 3JJTickets from £5 WRITING THE MAGIC is the fourth in Dead Ink's award winning series of genre writing guides. Following on f...

We're bringing a little magic to #Liverpool this September! WRITING THE MAGIC will launch on Thurs 18 Sept at Dead Ink Books, Liverpool, at 6pm. Discussing it with me will be archmages of the written word Alex Pheby & RJ Barker. More info and tickets below.

deadinkbookshop.com/products/sep...

Reading “Waterblack” by @alexpheby.bsky.social and a dreadful thing is occurring — this novel (and the series it concludes, “Cities of the Weft”) is SO bloody good that it’s spoiling me rotten. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say that this is as good as Mervyn Peake.

Do yourself a favor and read the cities of the West trilogy from @alexpheby.bsky.social. Waterblack, the last installment, is a mind blowing conclusion?? that I am in total awe of.
Rating: 5/5⭐
Final Recommendation: BUY ALL OF THEM IMMEDIATELY
#booksky 💙📚💫🖋️

SamJordison on Substack An old idea in a new form. A column I used to run in The Guardian is back, with some new twists. Let’s see if it also works on Substack. (Features Lawrence Sterne, Graham Swift, Lorde, bookworms, Don ...

Links, Tips and Suggestions substack.com/@samj/note/c...

Landmark literature It feels like quite a while since we last sent a newsletter… And that’s because it is.

Our latest newsletter is live: shorturl.at/0KVXi Contains: news. News about Waterblack, upcoming books, upcoming short story prize and more.

I wrote some of this! Excited to be able to say so at last (NDA).

I wrote some of this.

【オフィシャルショップ限定】LOGOS - The World of FINAL FANTASY XVI -　英語版 ※本書は海外で販売する英語版の輸入品です。本文は全て英語です。『LOGOS -

store.jp.square-enix.com/item/4988601...

Waterblack by Alex Pheby “How is a person changed by power?”

Epic review of Waterblack in @strangehorizons.bsky.social by Matthew Eatough: strangehorizons.com/wordpress/no...

"Waterblack will be greeted as a fitting conclusion to one of the landmark works of experimental fantasy of the twenty-first century...

9 June 2025 Visit the post for more.

Amid the excitement of the @strangehorizons.bsky.social fund drive, we also have a standard issue this week (we are rockstars).

In Reviews so far: Eatough on Waterblack and Pheby’s Cities of the Weft (@galleybeggars.bsky.social); @marinaberlin.bsky.social on Wheel of Time’s third and final season.

Already pre-ordered!!!